Changed me.

A month ago i started reading Shauna Niequist books. I started with "Cold Tangerines" then on to "Bittersweet" i haven't read "Bread&Wine' yet..i can't imagine how much more influenced i'll be by that book but i'm sure it will be great too.
So let me start by telling you that by no means am I a lover of the kitchen/cooking. I cook because if i don't my kids and I will starve. I cook simple easy meals the usuals i like to call them. I alternate the days and on one day a week my mama has us over and she cooks for us, God bless her:)
Chicken and fried rice night, taco night , spaghetti night, Greek pasta& salad and occasionally if i feel like it i whip up some homemade soup(grams recipe of course) but that is so rare you guys! And did you see i didn't mention hubby up there well that's because he is a cook! and whatever i make he comes home and cooks for fun to make it better..yeah i am in awe of that

Well while reading Shauna's books she consistently writes about cooking for her loved ones cooking and actually enjoying it. Who would have thought.
Enjoying what the memories bring from inviting friends over and cooking for them a act of showing you love them that you want to nurture them. Every time she tells one of her stories and shares about this i realized i want this. I want to learn how to nourish not only my family more but my community of friends and i want to find joy among it all..

I hadn't realized how much fear played in this area of my life. Because when Shauna describes community and cooking for others i cringed with fear. You mean you actually open your home that often to feed others letting all hang ups aside if the house is a mess and you don't really know what to cook? huh?! I was so taken back by it and in awe of how much i was afraid to do this often, yet really wanting and knowing how much i will end up loving and growing from it. You run the risk of people judging you in an area your not so confident in. Which in my case is cooking i have no hang ups with people judging me in areas i know i am great at i really could care less. Because i believe and try to respect others opinions but BUT when it comes to areas of my life where i'm not confident in which means it scares me! I just fold that area away in a safe place and have just made excuses for not trying.


I grew up among amazing cooks. period. And i was not a lover of food growing up, lets just say i was slightly picky eater. OK lets really say i was every parents nightmare. There i said it. My poor mom would cook these great meals for us and i would sit there all night not touching my food at all. My mama is one tough cookie you eat what she makes or you go hungry and i love her for that really! But boy was her work cut out for her when she'd try so hard to get me in the kitchen to learn. I avoided it like the plague because really i thought id fail immediately in comparison to her so why try right. I don't know why i held such contempt for it and gave up so quickly but lets just say it been a long road to recovery in that area and enjoying food GOOD food. So now i find myself healing in the area of failure before trying.

I am trying.
And am finding small nuggets of joy along the way and it feels so good. I am by no means where i want to be but the learning has not been as painful has i had imagined it to be.
I've cooked some pretty good food that's been a hit and then there's been a few misses where i whip out the usual suspects that will please everyone and forgive myself for it.
Because that's life my friends we have to give ourselves room to grow and a chance to change because it does and it will change us. Life has to bring so much more joy if we reach out for it with open hands and hearts.

So cheers to change & entertaining a whole lot more!
And here is what's for dinner at mi casa:)

Chicken and rice are perfect dinner partners, so simplify your dinnertime prep by cooking them together in the slow cooker. All you need to add is a simple side dish, such as microwave-steamed veggies, and you've got a meal. YIELD: SERVINGS (SERVING SIZE ) PREP TIME: 0:10 MINUTES COOK TIME: 3:00 MINUTES Ingredients 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter 1 of onion, finely chopped 2 of garlic cloves, finely chopped 4 of boneless chicken breast halves of Salt and pepper See all ingredients Preparation Melt 2 Tbsp. butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add onion and cook until softened, stirring occasionally, 4 to 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1 minute longer. Scrape into slow cooker. Sprinkle chicken with salt. Melt remaining 2 Tbsp. butter in skillet over medium high heat until foaming. Add chicken breast halves and cook until browned, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer to slow cooker. Add 1 cup broth and lemon juice to skillet and bring to a boil, scraping browned bits from bottom of pan. Add to the slow cooker, along with remaining broth, rice and 1 tsp. salt. Stir, cover and cook on low until chicken is cooked through and rice is tender, 2 to 3 hours. Remove chicken, stir parsley into rice and season with salt and pepper. Divide rice onto 4 plates and top each with a piece of chicken; serve immediately. P.S. by the way Pintrest is the bomb for helping me find recipes that work! Enjoy!! God bless you and yours!  xoxo-Aligna

Come to me as a child

 I prayed for joy and i think i literally got it in the form of this little bundle of JOY! All my children have taught me something of the heart of God. In each of kids characters and personality they have shown me something of myself and then sometimes something else entirely that i had know idea i needed in my life. But "Joy" this level of child like faith is being shown to me through our little Violet

I remember praying for joy in the hardest season of my life to date. And it was so hard to be present during that time in my life, i had no idea how God could bring Joy to me when i was so heart broken about my life. Looking back i can see how selfish and blind i was to how truly blessed i already was. And because of that i believed a lie about myself that robed me of the joy i so desperately needed..

She comes to me and well just about everyone else she comes in contact with shinning bright joy. She comes expecting love and gives it with her little chubby arms wrapped around you patting your back, wanting to comfort you more then thinking of herself. She trust and depends on me completely. She worships with arms stretched high mimicking others at church and singing along with pure joy. She doesn't think twice about showing love or giving joy.  Jeez VioletJoy i want to be just like you!

 OK God I feel it, I feel this unexplained joy, delight and immense thankfulness for the life i have. I see you showing me her joy and therefore teaching me to embrace this and claim this joy for myself. The joy of having family surrounding me, the friendships that are growing, the lessons that were hard to learn and the ones I'm still laying at your feet and crying out for your help in.

 I'm a brutiful mess but i love my life, this story that's playing out before me. I'm doing my best to come to you God as a child,  your child:)

She really has the best brothers ever!

And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18:2-4 

Joy.

Praying you not just encounter Joy but that you fight for it!

Happy Monday to you and God bless you and yours,

xoxo-Aligna